The present invention relates to the field of lighting and, more particularly, to an improved means for controlling a light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system.
LED lights have become an energy-efficient alternative to conventional incandescent and fluorescent lights. The focused light provided by LED lights have made them popular in areas, particularly outdoors, where decreased light pollution is desired. The LED lights are often retrofitted to an existing lighting system, and bound to the existing lighting control programs of that system.
The electronic nature of LED lights, over conventional wired systems, allow for greater versatility in control options. A variety of wireless controllers have been developed to utilize wireless communications to control operation of LED lights in a lighting system. However, conventional wireless controllers are each designed for use with a specific element of the lighting system (e.g., a light source controller, a motion sensor controller, etc.). This limits the flexibility of the wireless controller for reconfiguration purposes.
Further, conventional wireless controllers are better-suited for indoor LED lighting systems, not for handling an existing layout of widely-spaced lights. That is, a conventional wireless controller generally has multiple outputs to control multiple LED lights in a relatively confined area like a large room. Such a configuration does not lend itself well to controlling LED streetlights for a city block or parking lot.